


Grim Reaper's Duties

by MissPearlescent



Category: EXO (Band), SuperM (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Demons, F/M, Fantasy, Fluff, Grim Reapers, Romance, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-02-23 11:21:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23710699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissPearlescent/pseuds/MissPearlescent
Summary: Lily is just trying to get through school, using the money from her job at the local swimming pool to help her tuition fees. But ever since a life-changing accident on the highway, life has never been the same. Someone is watching her. Always watching her.
Relationships: Kim Jongin | Kai/Reader, Kim Jongin | Kai/You
Kudos: 17





	1. Chapter 1

Kai swung his scythe onto his back, making it disappear until he needed it again. Now was not the time for reaping souls.

He morphed into regular human clothes, a plain black t-shirt and jeans. They weren’t uncomfortable, but they left him feeling naked. He was used to a heavy cloak that shielded eyes from the plethora of lethal weapons strapped to his body. Now they were all simple tattoos lining his skin that waited until their master called on them.

He flexed his empty hands and strode inside the office.

Sitting at the desk facing the window was just the person he was looking for. She was buried in her work, the bun on top of her head bobbing away as she recited some text.

Kai cleared his throat.

The girl dropped her pen with a little gasp and spun around in her seat, her eyes wide. For a moment, he knew that look. It was a look of recognition but was quickly concealed by hesitant confusion. The girl stood up, her toned legs crossing over to the door in quick strides. 

“Sorry, you scared me.” Her chest heaved with her intake of breath and he caught a glimpse of her tight black bathing suit underneath a baggy red tank with the word LIFEGUARD on the front. Clearly wanting him out of her office, she met him right at the threshold, keeping a hand on the door. “How can I help you?”

Kai was mildly amused at the way she was trying to be polite and shoo him off at the same time. He must have caught her at a bad time. If only she knew who he was. “I’m here to inspect the pool.”

Her eyes narrowed for a second. “Inspect the pool?”

Out of thin air, Kai produced a badge from his back pocket and handed it over.

“Kim Jongin,” the girl read out loud. He could almost see the gears whirring in her brain. “Oh! For the company meeting this weekend?”

Kai nodded, though he had no idea what this meeting was and why it was held in a pool, let alone who this Kim Jongin person was. “Call me Kai.”

The girl flashed a smile and held her hand out for him to shake. “I’m Lily.”

And Kai…

Kai almost staggered back.

He stared down at this girl and suddenly had the urge to protect her. It was wrong. All wrong.

Stiffly, he shook her hand, his brain racing. The Grim Reaper didn’t protect anything but his job.

“Come, follow me this way.”

Kai blindly took step after step behind Lily, barely noting the thick textbook and pile of notes on her desk. His nose made the slightest of twinges when they walked through another set of doors and the smell of chlorine hit him like a wall.

“This is our pool,” Lily said, walking ahead of him.

He didn’t hear much of what she said after that as she showed him all the amenities that came with the hotel pool. He was too busy noticing the way her legs disappeared under a pair of shorts that really highlighted her butt, which moved in such a hypnotic way when she walked.

Kai gave himself a mental slap in the face and pretended to look around.

No, he was not thinking about Lily’s butt. He was busy trying to piece together everything he knew about her.

Six months ago, he had flashed to one of the biggest accidents in the country on a busy highway. Multiple vehicles were involved, including a coach bus and an oil tanker. Kai was drawn to the scene by the call of imminent death. Many of them.

And when he arrived, he saw the fire and breathed in the smell of charred flesh. There were many deaths indeed.

Almost everyone involved had died, and Kai dutifully sent their souls off away from the human realm. He was almost done with the job when suddenly he felt a hand on his arm.

It was warm, yet it stung his flesh.

Nobody had touched him in thousands of years. He had no idea what skin to skin contact even meant anymore.

He remembered whipping his head around, ready to lob the hand off with a swing of his scythe, but he was stopped when he saw the sooty mess hanging onto him.

“Hi, mom?” The girl coughed the words into her phone as she clung to his arm for balance. “I’m okay.”

Kai froze, wondering if he was in some simulation. He heard the voice on the other end desperately ask “How?” and Kai wondered the same thing. This crash took out almost a hundred humans and stretched on for miles. Bodies were being extracted with zero resemblance to their owners, so burnt and mangled they were.

Yet this girl got out with just a dusting of ash.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I was using the bathroom in the back of the bus when it happened.”

Nobody else had survived the coach bus.

Kai squinted at the girl as she told her mother about how perhaps the disgusting toilet water that had splashed onto her had actually saved her. He peered at her aura for an angelic blessing but could find nothing.

Why was she spared?

She rubbed her eyes and Kai realized she still did not notice she was clinging onto him hard. Quickly, he sliced the bottom of his sleeve and handed the makeshift handkerchief to the girl.

She took it with a shaky word of thanks and rubbed her eyes clean.

When she opened them again, Kai had left the scene.

He spent the rest of the week checking his abilities, making sure that he was still invisible to humans when he reaped souls. That girl shouldn’t have been able to see him. But when nothing out of the ordinary happened after that single event, he marked it off as a fluke.

Until he found he was being drawn to the girl nearly every other week. Week after week, he found himself in her vicinity, yet nobody was dying. He ignored it at first, concentrating on the call of death that always drew him out of the Underworld.

But after six months, he couldn’t ignore it any longer. He had spent enough time in the human realm without a true purpose. He needed answers.

And Lily with her hypnotic behind was going to give it to him.

-

Lily needed to get laid.

Pronto.

Because while she was leading her client around the pool, showing him how the jacuzzi would be perfect for the non-swimmers at his company, all she wanted to do was strip naked and jump into the freezing cold deep end of the pool.

Yeah, her choices were either get laid or take a cold shower.

The moment Kai had walked into her office fifteen minutes ago, her brain and lady parts screamed “That’s my type!” but she tamped their voices down and took on her professional role. The hotel was counting on her to book this man’s reservation because it meant extra overnight bookings for any company members who would be too drunk to drive home after their party.

And if she was lucky, she’d be able to earn some tips from this party. Hey, a girl had to pay her student loans somehow.

“How long can we book the pool?” Kai asked, casually leaning in to inspect the jacuzzi.

 _For as long as you want_ , Lily wanted to say. “Free swim time for hotel goers ends at 6:00pm. You’re free to book the entire pool with the saunas anytime after that.”

“And there will be a lifeguard on duty all night?” He looked up at her, his gaze sending a wash of warm tingles down her spine.

She didn’t speak lest her voice cracked from being—oh, she couldn’t deny it anymore—horny, so she simply nodded.

She must have been blushing or looking like a lovesick puppy, because his lips curved into an all-knowing smile. “Good.”

Lily had to look away before she melted under the intensity of his gaze. “After midnight, the fees will be a bit higher due to the night premiums for workers.” She gave a nervous laugh. “You know, labour laws and all that.”

She began rounding the jacuzzi, back toward the office, when suddenly, she felt a sizzle on her arm. Lily yelped at the pain and jumped away, rubbing her shoulder. Her flip-flop caught on the grate and she fought to regain her balance.

“Lily!”

She felt a hand graze her flailing arms as she fell into the jacuzzi. Great, what a perfect show of how competent she was as a lifeguard. And it had to be in front of a hot client too.

Pushing aside her thoughts, she twisted her face toward the surface of the water. After a couple of futile attempts, something yanked at her scalp, causing her to nearly scream in pain.

Her feet touched the bottom and if she just stood up, she could punch through the surface, but something was keeping her down. Her hands reached up and found that her hair had come undone from its bun. She followed the strands down and realized they were being sucked into one of the filters.

No, no, no.

She wanted to cry for help but she knew she needed to stay calm in order to reserve her oxygen. Out of fear and shock, her fingers fumbled as they tried to unknot the tangles of her hair from the filter. Thank goodness the water was warm and not freezing cold like the pool.

Then someone jumped into the jacuzzi beside her, their huge shadow blocking out the fluorescent light on the ceiling. She couldn’t tell what was happening anymore until a strong arm wrapped around her torso and for some reason, she suddenly felt safer.

It was the same feeling she’d often had every few weeks when she was scared or anxious. It had started six months ago after that huge crash on the highway, and she was thankful that her brain could give her a sense of calm whenever she needed it. She attributed the calmness to the meditation exercises her therapist had taught after the crash.

Without the break from flashbacks of the crash, her mind might’ve gone awol.

Now, she watched as a great hand held onto both her hair and the filter, yanking the plastic out of its hole in the concrete with one great pull.

Then Lily was thrust into the air, where she clung onto her saviour and gasped for oxygen.

“Th-thank you,” she coughed and sputtered, her hands moving wildly over Kai’s shoulders to make sure he was real and she wasn’t already dead and moving onto the afterlife. “You saved me.”

A reassuring hand stroked down her back as she continued to hack up the last bit of water. “Someone tried to kill you,” he growled.

“What?” She couldn’t have heard that right. Swiping the wet hair out of her eyes, she pulled back and looked Kai in the eye. “No, I slipped.”

He shook his head, his gaze so angry, she thought she could see flames in his pupils. “Someone came into this realm and pushed you into the water.” Lily’s eyes widened because he wasn’t making sense, but also because Kai’s hand was suddenly on her butt and she wasn’t sure if he even realized it. “Someone wanted you dead.”

“Hold on, you need to explain—” Her words cut off with a little scream as a crack of thunder ran out _indoors._

Why was there lightning and thunder inside the pool?

Lily realized she had wrapped her legs tightly to Kai’s as the water began to whirl around them. Her arms were basically superglued around his neck. Nobody could pry her away from him at this moment.

She was freaked out and he seemed to be the only one with answers.

She heard a snick in the air and suddenly Kai had a scythe in his hand. She stared in awe. The man was wielding a freaking scythe. All while his other hand gripped her by the ass.

She didn’t know if she felt like a woman or like an infant.

Either way, she felt adequately protected, and that was all that mattered.

Come on, the man had a scythe.

“What’s happening?” she asked, raising her voice over the storm that was brewing around them.

Kai shook his head, an indication that he wasn’t sure. “I think we’re about to get some answers."


	2. Chapter 2

The air around them was full of crackling energy as Kai watched the vortex form above. Somebody powerful was going to show their face soon, and Kai didn’t know if that being would be a threat to Lily or not.

He dug within himself, searching for the pull of death. If Lily’s soul was supposed to cross over today, he would know.

But he couldn’t feel the pull.

It was like every other time he was around her. He would always think death was calling to him, but her presence tamped that. All he felt around her was the urge to protect.

“You’re not allowed to die,” he told her, ready to call forth the weapons tattooed on his chest. “Not on my watch.”

“Geez, I didn’t know I needed permission,” she said sarcastically. “I’ll try my best not to die today.”

Kai almost laughed if the situation wasn’t so dire.

Another clap of thunder rang through the building, causing the water to crash like waves against the tiled walls. Lily stiffened and he could feel her nails digging into his back, all her earlier humour and sarcasm gone.

As much as she said she wasn’t trying to die, he could smell the fear on her.

Earlier, he swore he could smell arousal on her too, but the chlorine fucked with his nostrils and he wasn’t sure. Now that the pool was being sloshed around, his nose was working like usual.

And he didn’t like that she smelled of fear.

“Show yourself,” he beckoned at the dark circle of clouds on the ceiling.

Lily cast him a look that said “Are you sure you want that?” but stayed silent and turned her watchful eyes to the clouds too.

One blinding lightning flash forced both of them to look away.

_Kai, the Grim Reaper. We finally meet._

The voice coming from the clouds was so loud, it reverberated the walls.

“Who the fuck are you?” Kai shifted his body so Lily’s vulnerable back wasn’t directly facing the vortex.

_I am here to give you guidance. The woman in your arms is important._

Well, no shit.

Lily craned her neck, addressing the voice herself. “Me?”

Ignoring her, the voice droned on. _She is a vessel._

A vessel? Kai paused for a moment to process that.

The simple statement made Kai drop Lily like she was a ton of hot bricks. He regretted it a split second later when he saw her stagger on her feet in the whirling waters of the jacuzzi.

No, she can’t be a vessel.

Vessels were essential to heaven, sent by the big guy upstairs to do a very important job.

Lily didn’t seem phased by the fact that Kai basically dropped her on her ass. “I’m a what? What’s a vessel?”

When the voice wouldn’t answer her, she rounded on Kai.

“Tell me,” she demanded.

She deserved to know, but Kai wanted answers of his own first. He turned to the swirling clouds again.

 _There is more,_ the voice boomed.

Of course there was. “Let me guess,” Kai sneered. “I’m her guardian.”

_You are correct in your guess._

Kai let out an energy blast at the clouds with a swipe of his scythe, his frustration balled into the attack. Of course, it did nothing.

“I refuse,” he called out. “I am the Grim Reaper. This is not part of my job description.”

The resounding clap of thunder sounded like laughter. _You cannot refuse. This is a Heavenly Mandate._

Kai cursed at thin air. “If you hadn’t noticed for the past millennium, I come from the Underworld. I do not answer to heaven.”

_It matters not. Protect her at all costs._

A scream came from behind him and by instinct, he spun around, summoning all his weapons.

What he saw was not right.

A demon resembling what humans called an octopus had its tentacles poised and ready to launch at Lily. But she was standing her ground, pushing the ten foot long tentacles away with her bare fists.

These demons were known to take down entire coliseums and suck the prey out from every crevice of the ruins, yet it could not grab hold of a human.

“Can I get a hand here?” Lily cried over attempts at swatting away the demon.

Right, he needed to protect her.

The only way to kill the demon was to take it out limb by limb before the first limb regenerated. But as he sliced off tentacle after tentacle, he told himself he was not doing this because of some Heavenly Mandate, but because Lily didn’t deserve to die by the hands of some demon. She was a human who should have a simple human death.

With a final screech, the demon’s last tentacle was lobbed off and it fell into a brown puddle on the tile, mixing in with the blue-green pool water.

Lily stepped back with a shudder, right into Kai’s chest. “It looks like diarrhea.”

Kai snorted in amusement as he spun her around. Nice of her to keep her sense of humour. “Are you hurt?”

“I think I’m fine.” She patted down her baggy tank top and her arms. “Maybe just a few scratches here and there—” She stopped when suddenly her clothes had poofed away.

Just like that. Poof.

Kai’s ears got hot as if he had been caught misbehaving as he looked down at Lily’s bare breasts. The water covered her from the waist down, but her breasts…

He blinked as she squealed, covering herself with her arms. Damn, he felt like a dick but all he had wanted to do was check underneath her clothes to make sure she didn’t have any injuries.

Somehow, he had willed her clothes away.

 _You have proved yourself worthy, Grim Reaper_.

Ah, fuck. The old man was still here?

He crowded Lily against the side of the jacuzzi, covering her naked body from the clouds above them. He didn’t know if there were actual eyes behind all that thunder and lightning, but he wasn’t going to risk it.

And he felt a twinge of pride when Lily ducked into his chest, using it as a shield.

“I’ve heard you loud and clear. Anything else you want to tell me?” Kai asked.

 _She is not as fragile as you think_.

He didn’t think so, not when she handled that demon just fine on her own. He quirked an eyebrow and then looked down, expecting traumatized eyes to look back at him. Except, Lily wasn’t even looking at him.

The air around them suddenly cleared and it was eerily calm as the thunder and lightning dissipated. He could hear her breaths come out in quick succession.

He could also smell her arousal.

“Lily?”

She moaned and he saw that she was palming her breasts under the water.

Damn, his erection shot up like a true soldier.

-

Lily couldn’t help it. She was so turned on. It wasn’t just the electricity in the air that made her hormones go wild. She had just gone through a huge adrenaline rush fighting off an oversized octopus, then was saved by the freaking Grim Reaper, stripped out of her freaking clothes in front of him, and then covered by his broad chest all in a matter of a few minutes.

Not to mention, he had unknowingly trapped her against a jacuzzi jet which was pulsing water between her legs as they stood there.

A little embarrassed, but too horny to care, Lily tried and failed not to make a sound as she was pushed toward a climax.

Kai’s hands wrapped around her arms, pulling her up a little so the jet of water only hit her thighs. Her mind cleared a little and she realized she had been toying with her breasts. Quickly, she covered them.

“What is a vessel?” she asked.

Kai barked out a laugh. “You’re asking me this question now?”

She pursed her lips in feigned innocence. “Why not?”

His smirk made him look like a predator toying with his prey. “Because you were so close to coming apart right in front of me and I think you deserve it after all you’ve been through.” He tugged her down into the water, right over the pulsing jet stream again. “Would you still like to discuss things?”

For a second, Lily couldn’t speak. “Y-yes,” she managed to get out as the pressure seemed to come at her harder, pushing open her slit like a cock ready to enter. “I want to know what that conversation was about.”

“Hmm, eager.” Lily closed her eyes as she felt Kai’s hands trail down to her ass. “I like that.” He spread her cheeks open, allowing the full onslaught of the water to push into her.

She gasped and wrapped her legs around his waist, the pressure too great. But she found that there was something else prodding at her here.

He hissed when she ground her hips at his erection. “I am here to protect you, Lily. Nothing else.”

“You’re going to have to be more clear.” Boldly, she trailed a long kiss down his neck. She followed his strong pulse, down to the ripped muscles that disappeared into his shirt. “Does that mean no fucking?” she faked a whine.

She knew Kai enjoyed her humour, so she hoped he understood her in sex too.

To her surprise, Kai spun her around so quickly, she nearly lost balance until he caught her again by the hips. He nudged her feet apart and squeezed her ass down into the water…right in front of the pulsating jet again.

Lily cried out as the water flicked at her clit.

She clung to the tiles of the pool’s edge as Kai’s hand came around, cupping her breasts.

“As a vessel, you are sent from heaven to be a womb. You are important to history because you will give birth to somebody great, either on the side of evil or good.” One of his fingers rolled around her nipple and she squeezed her legs together to fend off the orgasm because she wanted to hear more. “I am your protector until you give birth to this child.”

She fought a laugh. “So when you said I wasn’t allowed to die on your watch, you were right.”

Kai licked the shell of her ear as his lower hand trailed down and buried itself between her legs. “I shall take care of your soul.”

She reached back, a little bit tired of this mythical talk when she only had one thing on her mind. Fumbling, she freed Kai’s hard cock from his jeans and guided it to her entrance, arching her ass up so he could push right in.

“Kai?” she murmured.

His response was a mix between a growl and grunt. He seemed shocked by what she had done in the last six seconds.

She wiggled her ass a little. “Can you take care of my orgasm first?”

That seemed to be the only push he needed because suddenly he was surging inside her, hitting her deep until she nearly came out of the water.

She bit her lip to keep from coming just from that.

He held her by both hips, pulling her down and opening her legs wide for better entrance this second time around. 

Lily was already seeing stars as he pushed into her again. He pressed her up against the water jet, letting the pulses take care of her clit while he drilled into her from behind.

Even when she broke, her cries bouncing off the tile walls, Kai did not stop. His cock was unrelenting as her inner muscles squeezed him, begging for more. She thought she had maybe come again or even a couple more times, but really she was losing count as her body shuddered against him. 

He gave her everything he had, promising himself to her even as he fell forward with a shout, angling his hip back so he could pull away before he spilled into the water. Panting, he kissed her shoulder as she continued to shake, riding out one more orgasm against his leg, and he let her take all the time she needed.

Finally, when both of them had caught their breaths and Kai could step back without stumbling on his feet, Lily turned around and automatically wrapped her arms around her waist out of a sudden shyness.

Kai noticed and, wordlessly, her clothes were back on her body. “You won’t have to worry about me being the father. I am the Grim Reaper.”

A pang struck Lily in the chest and she absently rubbed at it. Of course he was the Grim Reaper. She had known that for a whole twenty minutes. It wasn’t like she was disappointed that she would have to find other men to fuck when a sex god was standing within her reach.

Was he a god? A demon?

She didn’t know this man, had only met him an hour ago, yet she somehow knew she could trust him. “I don’t know if I would be a good vessel anyway,” she confessed with a casual shrug because she wasn’t ready to be a mother yet, let alone a mother to a historical figure. “But I…I am glad you will be around.”

In response, Kai simply stared at her.

She bit her lip, unsure what to say. “You _will_ be around, right?”

He still didn’t say anything.

“I mean, I know you’re busy being the Grim Reaper and all, but if all these monsters are trying to kill me and stuff, it would nice to get some help.”

His lip turned up and she knew she had him.

“It would also be nice to have a friend in the middle of this batshit craziness,” she whispered, pursing her lips and gauging his reaction.

All of a sudden, Kai pulled her in, pressing a tender kiss to her lips. It wasn’t anywhere near a French kiss, but Lily still felt it down to her toes. It made her feel she had nothing to fear. 

She must’ve looked dumbstruck when he pulled back because he had that all-knowing smile on his face again. “A _friend_ ,” he teased.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKKKK so I’m not 100% satisfied with the ending because there was supposed to be a bit more to this story but I do not have the time energy or patience to write another 2000 words LOL Hence, both characters are confused and wishy-washy hahaha Kai was supposed to be like “Must. Not. Sex. Her. She belongs to another!!” and also “WHO THE FUCK IS THE FATHER SUPPOSED TO BE?? CUZ SHE JUST GOT KISSED BY THIS ANNOYING ASS DUDE AND I DON’T LIKE IT!” all the while being shocked to learn that he himself is supposed to father this child :) :) :) Oh yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah. Anyway, this idea of being protected by a guardian angel of sorts was inspired by Larissa Ione’s Demonica/Lords of Deliverance series because there are “guardian angels” assigned to protect humans but nobody is told the reason for it. One angel was assigned to protect a young girl who was married off to an abusive king. She was not allowed to die despite how miserable her life was because, according to prophecy, she had to give birth to some great historical figure. That hit me hard :’( So I wanted to give that fictional girl a story that’s happier :)
> 
> I was also gonna make Lily address the fact that HULLOOOOO she is not just a womb. But my brain is only good at imagining crazy scenarios that can lead to s-e-x so I did not have the mental capacity to flush that part out either :) I know my stories can get really confusing at times with a lot of plot holes that don’t make sense which is why I get so nervous about writing fantasy etc BUT I REALLY LIKE THINKING ABOUT THEM so thank you for bearing with me!
> 
> Anyway, I got a little burnt out overthinking this story (I am not very good at world building or translating all the action in my head into words) so I started writing something else. Please stay tuned for that, and thank you for reading ^^

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again! I finished reading Larissa Ione’s Reaper and I cried so much because it’s the end to one of my favourite series! SO I HAD TO WRITE until midnight even though I had to be up at 5am for work the next day. If you have read the book, you will know that I took a lot from her world. Namely, the main character’s name (her main character is Lilliana and I just really love the Grim Reaper and Lilliana T_T) and the idea of someone being stalked for certain reasons that shall be revealed in the next half of the short story :) I really love reading paranormal fantasy especially when it’s so SMART. Like you can do so much with a world and just the fact that one author can create all that along with intricate plot that leads to crazy consensual sex?!?! Where stalking isn’t creepy and there is always a SMART reason for forced proximity aka one of my favourite tropes ever?!? Sign me up!!!!
> 
> Anyway, I’ve been rambling. Thank you guys for reading and have a great week :)


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